


Believing In Santa 101

by AsagiStilinski



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: 12 Days of Sterek, Christmas, Fluff, Humor, Kidfic, M/M, Magic!Stiles, santa, witch Stiles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-10
Updated: 2016-12-10
Packaged: 2018-09-07 16:08:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8807407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsagiStilinski/pseuds/AsagiStilinski
Summary: Their first Christmas with a werewolf child Derek and Stiles realize that it may not be as easy to keep their new addition believing in Santa as they had hoped, and attempting to keep her believing a little longer is going to be quite the pain in the neck





	

**Author's Note:**

> I think this is my favorite of the entire 12 Days Of Sterek project, it's certainly my favorite idea so I'm glad it turned out well

Derek and Stiles had been doing this for a few years now, and they had more or less started to get into the swing of things

They had done the "Christmas with kids" thing about three times now and approaching their fourth and they had things pretty much down pat...

There was just ONE little problem....

They had never had a werewolf child before

They had been adopting supernatural children for over three years now, signed up with an agency who had them on a call list and since they hadn't put a limit on how many they were willing to adopt....

But Harper was their first werewolf, and ironically, their oldest child

A six-year-old orphan, Harper had been with them for about nine months now, and for the most part adjusting to a werewolf child was alot easier than adjusting to an older child...

The difference being when it comes to Christmas, or more specifically when it comes to Santa...

"I know you want to stay up, but if you get off your bedtime schedule now you'll have an even harder time sleeping on Christmas Eve, and if you don't go to sleep Santa won't come,"

Harper pouted up at Stiles, big blue eyes seeming a little more than the usual amount of frustrated

"How will Santa know I'm asleep?"

"He just knows,"

"He's probably some kind of faery creature like Aunt Lydia," Derek said off-handedly as he put a few stray clothes from the floor into the hamper

(The kid hadn't even been there for a year yet and she already inherited Stiles' "floor organization" system)

"But won't I wake up anyway when he comes? How can I just ignore reindeer stomping on the roof?"

"The reindeer park in the driveway when they visit houses with sensitive kids like werewolves," Stiles explained, reaching over to turn the lamp off- or... he would have if Harper hadn't spoken again

"But won't I hear him coming down the chimney?"

"Well-"

"Won't I hear his heartbeat?"

"Well...-"

"Won't I SMELL him here?"

Stiles glanced at Derek anxiously, silently pleading for help, but Derek only abandoned the hamper and kissed Harper's head

"Santa has ways around all of that honey, he's been doing this since time began, he's met every werewolf and psychic and faery and he knows how to avoid waking them up,"

"But HOW?" the little girl insisted

"If you go to sleep right now, we'll tell you tommorrow," Stiles reasoned

That didn't really seem to satisfy her, but it was enough to make her lay down anyway, and after the standard exchange of good-nights, Derek and Stiles left the room to get back to the sanctuary of their own bedroom

"Thanks alot for the help," Stiles huffed once he had closed the door, once again praising his genius idea from years ago to soundproof their bedroom from the inside

"Don't look at me, you're the creative one here,"

"But you're the werewolf! Can't you remember what your parents told you when YOU were a kid asking about Santa?"

"I DIDN'T ask about Santa when I was a kid, I was a devout believer right up until Peter ruined my life,"

Stiles was quiet for a moment, head tilting to the side

"How old were you exac-"

"Ten, and I had gone all those years without so much as a single question and then I overheard Peter talking about how he couldn't believe Mom still had to 'fake Santa' for me and it was all over after that,"

Stiles winced on his behalf, finding out the horrible truth about Santa was never pleasant but atleast if you slowly start to lose beleif it isn't as much of a big deal as it is when someone just slams you upside the head with it

"Ouch...."

"Yeah... what about you?"

"Nine, my dad's first year doing the thing and I caught him in the act,"

Derek gave an appreciative nod, sitting down on the edge of the bed

"My point is, I never had to deal with this, the questions, so I never had any ready answers,"

"But what about your sisters?"

"Laura learned the truth when I was still a toddler, and Cora picked up on it thanks to some neighborhood kids about two years after I did,"

"So you have ZERO skills to help me out with this?"

"Absolutely none,"

Stiles heaved a sigh, crashing back on the mattress and running his hands down his face

"What the hell are we going to do Derek? We can't let her lose her beleif in Santa at only six, especially not with the life she's already had..."

"You could put a barrier over the top of the stairs so she can't go down and investigate? You could even say it's sound proof so she knows why she isn't hearing anything,"

Stiles gave a small nod, taking a slow breath

"Yeah.... yeah that might work...."

"Well now that we've solved this little mystery I have to take the opportunity wile they're asleep to go get that Captain America sheild out of the car, you can test the barrier now just to make sure it'll work,"

Stiles gave a quick nod, following Derek out of their room and checking around the corner to make sure the kids were still in their rooms- so far, coast clear

"I'll make sure it has an age clause so you can get through at your own convenience,"

"You mean like in Harry Potter?" Derek teased

"Yeah, but if Harper gets her name in THIS Goblet Of Fire I say she deserves extra presents,"

"Even more of a reason to reinforce that barrier, I'm not going back to Toys R' Us four days away from Christmas,"

"Same," Stiles groaned, he swore between Toys R' Us, the Disney store, and Walmart, if he saw one more toy with a price tag on it he was probably going to scream

And if one more person elbowed him in the gut to get the last ... whatever... he was probably going to unleash magic-driven catastrophe

"I assume you want me to leave it in the basement so you can go wrap it?"

"Yep, you want me to leave the laundry on the bed for you?"

"Please, though... you know Santa isn't supposed to wrap things right?"

"Hey, I like wrapping stuff, you like obsessively folding clothes, it's why we work,"

"Fair enough," Derek shrugged back, heading down the stairs so he could go out to the car and get the toys

Stiles in the mean time headed over to the dryer and started unloading the laundry into a basket

He hoped this would work, he knew Harper was curious and that was a good thing- hell he practically CREATED curious!- but he also wanted her to stay a child- stay innocent- for as long as she could

To hold onto the pure childhood things that kids too often gave up too soon

He couldn't be blamed for that could he?

Oh well, she couldn't get past the barrier, so no matter how much she wanted to go see Santa it wouldn't be possible

He rounded the corner into the bedroom, setting the basket down on the bed and starting to pull some of Derek's henleys out, completely distracted and not paying attention to his surroundings...

Wich is how it was so easy for someone to sneak up on him

"Stiles?"

He jumped, screaming and wipped around on his heel, taking a quiet breath and putting a hand to his chest

"Crap... Harper you scared me, why aren't you in bed?"

"Where's Derek?" she frowned

Admittedly it was a little strange still, having a kid who still called them by their first names, but Harper was the only kid they had adopted who had really known her parents before and he certainly couldn't blame her

"Um, he went downstairs,"

"What for?"

"Harps you should really be sleep-"

"Did he go outside? I heard the door open and I don't hear his heartbeat anymore,"

"Yeah he uh... he went outside,"

"Why?"

Well... that was a good question

"Um... he forgot his jacket in the car,"

Harper narrowed her eyes, clearly not taking Stiles at his word

"Why didn't he just get it in the morning?"

"Because grown-ups don't usually like leaving things disorganized when they can avoid it,"

If anything, she only looked MORE skeptickal...

"Why did you put a barrier around the stairs?"

"Um-"

"I wanted a glass of water and I can't go downstairs,"

Stiles sighed, shaking his head slowly and gently taking the girl's hand in his

"Come on, I'll get you some from the bathroom," he offered, guiding her into the bathroom and grabbing a glass from the counter

Why did he have the feeling that he was being conned...?

No sooner than he had given her the water did she suddenly perk up, setting the glass down and rushing out of the bedroom

Stiles paled, running after her as quickly as he could and feeling a wave of releif wash over him when he saw Derek step around the corner empty-handed

If he had brought that thing up here their entire operation would be over with

"Harper? What-"

"Where's your jacket?"

"Um... wha-"

"I told her how you went outside to get your jacket out of the car, you put it in the downstairs closet right?"

"Right," Derek said quickly, smoothly

"I put it in the closet downstairs, for... easy access,"

She wrinkled her nose, clearly not believing Derek either but at this point she had probably run out of ways to try trapping them in a lie

"Come on Harps, back to bed," Stiles urged, not giving her the chance to protest as he picked her up and carried her to bed himself

~+~

"You know this isn't going to work," Stiles commented, slapping a gift tag on the freshly wrapped toy

"You mean about keeping Harper from finding out the truth with Santa?"

"That's exactly what I mean, she heard the door open and close, she told me she couldn't hear your heartbeat anymore, she'll be too suspicious if she goes all night without hearing a single thing, or if she gets up and goes to the stairs and doesn't hear or smell anything,"

"What are we supposed to do then? We can't prove something is real when it isn't Stiles,"

"We're going to have to fake it then,"

"How? With a Santa suit?"

"Exactly!"

Derek shook his head, pushing the Captain America sheild out of the way and grabbing a random box for Stiles to wrap, not even bothering to see what was in it

"That won't work, what if she catches on that it's me? Won't she think it's odd that Santa is here at the exact same time that I just so happen to not be upstairs? Especially if she only hears one heartbeat,"

"Then you won't dress up, you'll stay here with me- an alibi, we'll get someone else to put on the big red tux,"

"Oh yeah? And who will that be?"

~+~

"You want me to come over late at night on Christmas Eve, dressed up as Santa, to trick your werewolf child into thinking that he's real?"

"Could you?"

The sheriff sighed quietly, pinching the bridge of his nose

"Don't you think she'd recognize my scent or something?"

"No, she's only six, she barely recognizes mine and Derek's scents so far and she can't distinguish heartbeats from eachother yet either, she can only count how many are in the house at once,"

John stared at him a bit skeptickally, not especially confident that his son's plan would work

"Please Daddy? I just want her to still believe in stuff like Santa for as long as she can, this kid has already had so much taken from her and if she gets this jerked away from her too..."

John held up a hand, shaking his head with disbeleif that he was actually agreeing to this

"Alright alright... fine... but you're on your own for Easter, I'm not wearing a rabbit costume for ANYONE,"

"Deal!" Stiles grinned enthusiastically

Maybe, just maybe, this could actually work...

~+~

"Do you know when your father is going to get here?"

"He's already outside,"

Derek glanced up, eyebrows raised in surprise

"You're making him sit outside in the middle of winter until Harper wakes up to investigate Santa?! Stiles!"

"I'm not MAKING him, he volunteered! Besides the car has heat, it's CALIFORNIA so it isn't THAT cold, and he's outside eating doughnuts that we're both pretending I don't know are there, he's in paradise!"

Derek sighed, shaking his head and grabbing his mug of hot tea from the nightstand

"So in return for sitting outside freezing for what could be hours you're letting him eat doughnuts?"

"Basically, he seems satisfied with the arrangement,"

Derek wasn't sure if he was horrified or impressed with how far Stiles was willing to go to keep Harper's faith in Santa strong, but he knew most people wouldn't have tried half as hard

"You're a good father Stiles, you make questionable decisions, but you're a good father,"

"Thanks," Stiles smiled back shyly, jerking his head towards the nightstand when his peripheral vision picked up on something

"She's on the move!"

Derek rolled his eyes, but was atleast glad for his father-in-law's sake that Harper apparently wanted to check on the Santa situation early

"God bless nanny cams," Stiles muttered, grabbing his walkie-talkie off of the nightstand and paging his father

"The duckling is on the move, I repeat Polar Bear, the duckling is on the move, now's your cue!"

_"Stiles if your bedroom is soundproof why do we have to talk in code?"_

"Um, because it's more fun this way?"

 _"You owe me for this,"_ the sheriff grumbled over the walkie-talkie

"Yeah yeah- oh! And Dad, those cookies are NOT for you, you can have ONE and the milk, Derek and I get the rest,"

_"You're taking my one payment for this crap?!"_

"Do I really need to call Dunkin Doughnuts and ask where you were fourty-five minutes ago?"

_"You know Son, one of these days, your kids are gonna pay you back for this,"_

"Yeah I know,"

With that he put the walkie talkie aside, stretching out a little to wait for the inevitable

"I'm going to enjoy the day that the kids start limiting YOUR junk food intake," Derek smirked

"Hey! I'm a witch, I have natural longevity and spells that can boost immunity and cure illnesses!"

"Yeah but none of that really prevents getting high blood sugar,"

Stiles wanted to respond- he was about to respond- when suddenly they heard a quiet, muffled squealing from down the hall

_"Santa!! It's really Santa!!"_

Stiles wordlessly reached over and gave Derek a high-five

His plan, as flawed and ridiculous as it was, had worked

_Thank. God._

~+~

"I swear if my ears don't pop back to normal again soon..."

"You'll what? Kill them?"

Stiles glared over his shoulder at his husband

It was bad enough that he had sneezed so badly earlier that his freaking ears popped because of it, worse that he couldn't get them to pop back, and the last thing he needed was Derek's commentary on the matter

Before Derek even had a chance to respond though, the ringing of the doorbell drew everyone's attention, and the kids somehow all managed to get to the door before their fathers did

(Well, except for little nine-week-old Rowena who couldn't even lift her own head up for investigation yet)

"Grandpa!!" the twins screamed excitedly, wasting no time in crashing into the sheriff's legs and tugging on him

He laughed lightly, returning the hugs with ease before reaching out to return the favor to Harper and Kieran, the latter of who being their only son so far

"I think it's safe to say this little experiment was a success," Stiles hummed smugly, rocking on the heels of his feet as his father pawned the kids off one by one with gifts

"Don't open those until we get back in the living room!" Stiles called, but he didn't think the kids were actually going to acknowledge him, if thy even heard him at all

"Merry Christmas Dad," he smiled, leaning up and giving the sheriff a tight, happy hug

"Merry Christmas to you too son, and Derek,"

Derek gave a shy nod, gently adjusting the way he was holding the baby so she wouldn't be too bothered and could continue sleeping

"That was a great job you did last night, you really got the uh... the stuff done," Stiles added as he finally pulled away, he was a little bitter that he hadn't had the chance to see for himself to be honest, Harper had made it sound like such a cool thing...

"What are you talking about? I never got in the house,"

"....What?"

"The key you gave me didn't work, it broke in the lock, I left you a voicemail, I assumed you and Derek were hurrying to fix the problem yourselves,"

"But... Harper said she saw Santa..."

Slowly, and a bit fearfully, Stiles and Derek exchanged looks

Because if it hadn't been the sheriff in their house, who HAD been wearing a red suit and delivering presents...?

The world may never know for sure.....


End file.
